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As you know NetBeans Community celebrated Software Freedom Day on 20th September, 2008 and at some places (I am sure about India), local communities celebrating Software Freedom Week, which shall get over by this Friday.

Anyways, as I had told you numerous times, and would tell you again that I was a coordinator of JIIT Sun Club till few months back, and now I am just a member there. Last Saturday, our club also celebrated Software Freedom Day, and same day club was re-launched as JIIT OSUM (pronounced as “Awesome”). OSUM stands for Open Source University Meetup!

Coming Soon: More details, photos of the event..

So, I attended that ceremony and then the members of the club were called on stage to share their experiences they had over past 1 year as an Open Source enthusiast, as the new members of a new team JIIT OSUM introduced themselves before embarking onto various events lined up for the entire weekend.

Following day, i.e. Sunday- 21st, I conducted yet another workshop on NetBeans Plugin Development, and I was more confident this time, enjoyed every bit of it. Audience were amazing, it was another computer lab, this time being conducted at my university.

So, even without a mic, everything went smoothly. The audience loved it, I loved it- what else do you want?

Anyways, continue to be a part of open source phenomena, as Code For Freedom is back!

Day 2- September 6, 2008

Time to deliver, its my first ever workshop outside my campus, and this time I was representing NetBeans Dream Team, as well as JIIT University. I came back early on Day 1, to prepare for this event.

NetBeans Plugin Development Workshop

It got started in rather unusual way. I had my workshop from 2: 00 – 3: 00 PM, so I reached Amity at 1: 45 PM. I thought, its better to reach early and setup everything to get started on time, but this was not to happen, as I am told, that my event got postponed by an hour.

Now, what…

Well, I attended freed.in, another FOSS event last year, in JNU, New Delhi and they also had some re-scheduling of events at last moment. So, it seems to me, its normal in every such event. I am not generalizing, its just my observation, feel free to voice your opinion on such events, by commenting on my blog.

Another Surprise…

I was sitting in their Computer Lab, along with Saurabh and new CA’s. It was around 2: 20 PM and I am suddenly told to start with workshop, because the person who got his event postponed from Morning to 2: 00 PM, was not reachable.

For a moment, I couldn’t realise what was happening? Then, I took centrestage, and saw computer was yet to be configured with the projector. They had no microphone, maybe its not possible to have one in labs. Also, I haven’t seen such facility even in my univ. labs.

Getting Started

Ankit Srivastava, India Student Coordinator started asking some general questions on NetBeans to keep them busy, while Angad, CA Tech Lead was configuring the system. He’s indeed a tech guru, I was using his Laptop for my workshop, which he had won during Code For Freedom, last year.

Finally, at 2: 35 PM, workshop got started by Angad who introduced me to the new CA’s, they were nearly 20+ Then, I took over and asked them 2 questions-

Why do we create Netbeans plug-in modules?

Why is there Terminology confusion?

RCP Book- The Benefits of Modular Programming

Followed by 2 exercises, I had planned to do with them.

Lets go inside NetBeans IDE

Now, lets go a bit deeper inside NetBeans IDE

Unfortunately, they had not installed NetBeans 6.5 Beta, instead I was told, the CA’s would be using NetBeans 6.0 in the labs. Anyways, the plug-in I had chosen for the workshop was flexible enough, that I could have used 5.5 release for delivering the workshop too!

Lets go inside NetBeans IDE

So, we started developing the plug-in, it took good amount of time, as it took a while for them to adapt to the NetBeans Platform, and when they did, it was a smooth sail afterwards.

After the plug-in was developed, and installed in Target Platform, they found it really amazing thing to have. Then, I told them, that whatever steps we took to develop the plug-in were existent in the IDE because of some plug-in modules.

Now, lets go a bit deeper inside NetBeans IDE

Now, to go a bit deeper, I thought of playing with XML layer. It was indeed a great idea, as they were surprised to see the power of this optional configuration file. As Geertjan once said, “Varun introduces you to the layer.xml file in NetBeans modules. He shows you how a few small tweaks can have very useful results”.

Pointers are back again…

We all know, there are nothing like pointers in Java, but XML layer in NetBeans Plugin Development does use it indirectly. The .shadow files, are pointers/symbolic links to the .instance files, which in my case, were used to register Actions in System Filesystem.

I explained them what System Filesystem is all about? Just a brief overview, as it was their first real experience with Plugin Development. So, I just wanted to touch every possible aspect, to get them started with development smoothly, rather than explain them FileObjects, DataObjects, etc.

Out-of-the-Box

Finally, the workshop got over. Really, it was an amazing experience barring minor hiccups and while preparing for the workshop, I do believe, I have developed a better understanding of concepts I just talked about.

Thank you, Amity and Sun for giving me the opportunity to conduct a workshop.

Day 1- September 5, 2008

It was not just another Friday for me, actually it was a special one, as I was going to attend an event, where I am going to do a workshop. Also, it gives me relief from college work for the weekend ;)

Early Morning

I had to reach Amity along with Angad and Saurabh at 8: 30 AM, event was to begin at 9: 00 AM. So, I woke up early, had my unusual breakfast, which I usually take when I am running late. However, as I had to reach early, this time, I had no time to have a proper meal in the morning.

Long wait…

Now, we had to meet at 8: 00 AM near Shopprix Mall, near my residence. So, I kick-started my bike, its Honda Unicorn, and it took me 2 minutes to reach there :D Its not even a kilometer away.

My ex-Sun Club mates made me wait for a long time, I waited for them for nearly 15 minutes. Don’t get angry, they had traffic to counter on their way to our meeting point. So, its OK to neglect that for the moment.

Biker Boyz

I was expecting Angad to come on a bike, as he had learnt biking while he was at IEC, Bangalore doing summer internship. Lol, strange:P So, he was one of the Biker Boyz, myself being the other one. However, he came in a car, and no bike :|

This is me, riding at ease on my way to Amity. Taken by Saurabh from Angad‘s Mobile.

Fast and Furious

No, we didn’t for go this movie. The cineplexes were not open before 11 AM. So, we had no option but to go for the event ;) Jokes apart, as we were running late, so we step-up the gas, and I went from 0-60 kmph in nearly 6 secs. No, I didn’t use any stopwatch, its what Honda boasts about, and I agree to it, most of the time.

We were going fast, and became furious. While sneaking out of the narrow gaps, and losing no time, in changing gears! Prancing Horse would be proud of us. Yes, I am talking about Ferrari:P

Time arrived, and so did we…

Finally, we arrived the destination, and went inside the campus. Its spread as if it was a city. Really, very big campus.

Then, at 9:00 AM, entered the Sun people and I got a chance to meet Ganesh Hiregoudar and some of the India Student Coordinators. It was an honor to meet him. I was really happy.

Events

After all this dramatic story line, its time for some action. There were not too many events lined up for the day. Still, they were worth attending.

Lightening of the lamp, followed by Saraswati Vandana (prayer to Hindu goddess of knowledge).

Then, followed felicitation ceremony, in which Dr. Ajay Rana, Director, Amity University handed over bouquets to the Sun India representatives and Mr. Mohd. Tasleem.

You might not be aware of this, but Sun had started last year Sun Campus Ambassador Program, and they targeted university students all over the world, to select 500 of them :) for training them on cutting-edge technologies, who in turn would train their fellow university students on those technologies!

Brief History

Last year, JIIT University, where I am pursuing B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering (currently, in final year). It was an honor for our college to be considered as a part of their program and select a possible Sun CA.

So, our univ. shortlisted 3 candidates from pre-final year, CSE and IT students. They were interviewed and then, Angad Singh became the first CA from our campus.

JIIT Sun Club

This club was formed to drive Open Source movement in our university. Its formation was an idea initiated by Angad and supported by myself and Saurabh Dhupar. Together we conducted various events, Saurabh and I were coordinators, whereas Angad was CA.

This year…

This year as well, Sun started looking for new CA’s, not necessarily, as some of them are continuing their term this year as well ;) Some got promoted and are now called Student Coordinator and Tech Leads.

Still, majority of CA’s are new one’s this year, and while I talk about India. Sun India, hosted an Induction Program in July (this year) at IEC, Bangalore. Some of CA’s were invited there, and some came to Amity University, Noida (this month) for their induction.

September 05-07, Noida: Amity University hosted the Campus Ambassador Delhi Induction Program for 40 new CA’s of North India region, in collaboration with Sun India, and Ganesh Hiregoudar, Program Manager (APAC), Campus Ambassador Program was representing Sun India, along with Anuradha Sen,Student Coordinator (East India), Campus Ambassador Program.

Why am I telling this?

I was invited to conduct the workshop on NetBeans Plugin Development for the new CA’s. Also, I was ex-Sun Club coordinator, so it was great opportunity to meet the people in reality :)

It was a 3-day program, out of which I attended the first two. The follow-up blog entries would discuss the happenings on those days ;)

I came across this Wiki, which listed all NetBeans-related JUG’s across the world. I shouldn’t say ALL, as there were only 3 JUG’s listed there. Disappointing figure, isn’t it? Well, no need to, just go there logIn and edit TO add your JUG details, also you may add your upcoming local JUG activities related to NetBeans in their calendar.